Minnesota Wild left wing Zach Parise (11) scores on Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick (32) was Minnesota Wild Dany Heatley watches during the third period of the Minnesota Wild against the Los Angeles Kings game at Xcel Energy Center Arena in St. Paul on Saturday, March 30, 2013. (Pioneer Press: Sherri LaRose-Chiglo)

The Wild are 34 games into a 48-game season and appear destined to finally shake off a string of four consecutive years without a playoff berth.

Although character is an overworked word in sports, Minnesota displayed enough of it Saturday night, March 30, at the Xcel Energy Center to get raves from its coach.

The Wild were playing their fifth game in eight days, their third in four days and second game of back-to-backs, and they fell behind the defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings 3-1 in the second period. Then, as has become their custom, they poured on the intensity to produce a 4-3 shootout victory that ignited a boisterous crowd of 19,223.

It was the Wild’s eighth win in their past nine games and boosted them back into a tie for first place in the Northwest Division and tied for third overall in the NHL West with a 21-11-2 record.

Coach Mike Yeo walked briskly into the media room and immediately launched into a postgame salute to his players.

“All I can say is, huge amounts of character by our team,” he began. “It was back-to-back games — they’re sitting here waiting for us — against a team that doesn’t give you much. Just a great job by our guys.”

It helps that the Wild have three of the top shootout guys in the NHL in Matt Cullen, Zach Parise and Mikko Koivu. They went 3 for 3 as Minnesota won its fourth of five shootouts this season.

The Wild are also 3-1 in overtime.

“Those are huge points,” Yeo said, “and again, those are key guys going out on the ice. They’re dialed in; they recognize that and they’re ready to be at their best every night.”

Koivu, who assisted on the Wild’s second and third goals and is 3 for 5 in shootout attempts this season, has been a key factor in that equation.

“I think we recognize that it’s even more important this year with the amount of games we have in the league right now,” he said.

The truncated season has meant nearly an extra game every week for every team.

It burdens everyone, Wild wing Zach Parise said.

“Every team’s going to be dealing with these travel issues and a lot of games in a short amount of time,” Parise said. “It’s not fair to sit here and make ‘five-in-eight’ excuses. Everyone’s dealing with it, but we’re dealing with it pretty well.”

The heavy schedule prompted the coaching staff to leave goaltender Niklas Backstrom at home for the Wild’s Friday night game in Dallas after he had played in 16 of the team’s previous 17 games over five weeks.

Backstrom responded by stopping 28 of 31 Kings shots and one of two in the shootout.

He also raised his shootout record this season to 4-1.

“Coaches give you a day off,” Backstrom said, “you have to come back strong.”

Yeo said the positive element in such a hectic schedule is that the team plays so many games in such a short period that it just has to focus on the next game.

“It’s also fun,” Koivu said. “You don’t even have to think about it. You get a rest, you come to the rink and it’s pretty much always a game day.”

And despite Minnesota’s record, the season has nearly a month to go.

“Still a lot of games left,” Koivu said, “and we want to keep rolling.”

When one game is concluded, Yeo noted, just repeat.

“In all honesty, all we’re doing is just trying to give ourselves the best chance to win the night that we’re playing, and after that game you figure out what you need for the next game,” he said.

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